/
Right then, neither the mind nor reason to think about anything else was consumed by bitterness and sadness.
“… Yes.”
Just one thing.
“It’s not a big deal.”
She didn’t want to worry him meaninglessly in a situation where she couldn’t tell him the real reason anyway.
Anastasia uttered a lie without difficulty, but Wilhelm responded with a questionable expression.
“You cried too sadly for that.”
“…”
“I remember you crying alone in front of a rose that one time.”
Wilhelm looked back for a moment, then finished his speech.
“It’s just like back then.”
“…”
Anastasia, who had been silent for a while after hearing that, asked.
“How was it, I, at that time?”
“You looked like someone had died.”
He described it quite accurately.
“I cried with that expression at my brother’s funeral.”
“…”
“So, what happened?”
In her confident tone, Anastasia rolled her eyes back with a perplexed look.
Then she found a plate full of candies on the table, and she opened her mouth.
“It hurt like death.”
“Why?”
“I bit my tongue while eating candy. I think it was the same back then.”
Anastasia grinned mischievously.
“That’s stupid.”
“…”
Wilhelm was silent for a moment, then took Anastasia out of his arms and faced her.
As if she had been drenched in tears, her two small cheeks were wet with tears.
Wilhelm reached carefully onto Anastasia’s cheek and gently smoothed it with his fingers.
Anastasia closed her eyes slowly to fully feel the sensation of his fingers brushing.
His low voice was heard before her.
“Does it hurt a lot?”
Still with her eyes closed, Anastasia replied with a faint smile.
“That’s why I cried like that.”
“I’m going to call the palace doctor.”
“No.”
Anastasia shook her head.
“It’ll get better over time.”
While saying that, Anastasia kept her eyes closed until the end.
She wanted to open her eyes and see him, but she tried to hold it in. Then, as if addicted to him, her strong cravings came to her withdrawal and crushed her neck.
It hurt like death, but yes, it will eventually heal over time, too.
There’s nothing time won’t solve. Even if you were like a tragic heroine who carried all the sadness in the world right now, you will one day be calm and detached.
There would be a day when it will be okay to hear that he has made love to someone else and had a baby. No, it had to be.
“It hurts right now.”
Anastasia flinched when he hit the nail on the head.
Immediately he drove a wedge into her hesitation.
“Don’t hold it in.”
He gently swept along Anastasia’s left cheek.
Anastasia finally opened her eyes with a surprised face at the subtle movement that was strangely different from before.
His face, which faced her again after being blocked from view for a long time, was dangerously beautiful, and Anastasia could not breathe for a moment and hardened.
“I can fix it.”
He said, still slowly sweeping Anastasia’s cheek. Anastasia barely opened her mouth and asked with trembling eyes.
“How?”
He leaned close to Anastasia to answer.
Anastasia stared at Wilhelm, wondering what the answer would be from Wilhelm’s mouth.
But… The distance started getting too close.
Before she knew it, when he invaded to a dangerous radius, where no resistance could be made, Anastasia opened her mouth to stop him.
“Majest…”
At that moment, Wilhelm swallowed Anastasia’s lips.
~~~~
“O great Rosenia, protector of all life and good values.”
Lyell, standing in front of the statue on the altar, opened his mouth with a solemn voice, waving red roses and olive branches.
“I bow to Goddess Rosenia on the day of fertility, the month of fertility, when all life on this earth enjoys splendor by the grace of her Goddess, the day of flames, when the Goddess burned all the evil of this land for a new beginning.”
Lyell slowly turned one lap in the same spot and knelt in front of the goddess statue. It was the same move as always.
“It was so gracious to have miraculously saved this humble life and once again give the opportunity for me to devote myself to the Goddess.”
But that didn’t mean that Anastasia could focus on this sacred ritual right now.
“With all this gratitude, I kiss you at the feet of the Goddess…”
The moment Lyell kissed the feet of the Goddess statue, Anastasia’s face turned red as if he had poured red paint into the water.
‘… You must be crazy.”
It’s because the sacred image reminded her of the scene earlier.
Anastasia covered her mouth without realizing it, and then she heard a laugh next to her.
It was a very small laughter that Anastasia could barely hear.
Anastasia turned her head with a flustered face, and immediately made eye contact with Wilhelm. Anastasia was embarrassed once more.
What was more embarrassing, however, was Wilhelm’s attitude, which, unlike herself, who was helpless, did not avoid her eyes calmly, and even came to meet hers. Even a faint smile appeared on his lips.
‘… Am I the only one who’s embarrassed?’
Why was he so calm by himself? Before and now.
Anastasia became strangely suspicious.
Was this man really her first kiss?
~~~~
“Don’t hold it in.”
She opened her eyes with embarrassment rather than surprised by the strange feeling she felt on her left cheek.
The blue eyes seen from the front looked darker today. If she touched them wrong, she felt like she would be helplessly sucked into those deep, dark eyes like an abyss.
The atmosphere was strangely flowing in a strange direction after finding the opposite red flame burning hot in the dark blue lake.*
*TN: his blue eyes are fiery at the moment
As she was still, she continued to make eye contact with him, Anastasia felt like it was hard to breathe, as if her chest had been crushed by someone.
He was still gently stroking her cheeks as if he were touching precious porcelain, and Anastasia felt her stomach tighten with each touch.
She felt strange, but it wasn’t her first feeling. Rather, she knew what it was… … It was more dangerous.
“I can fix it.”
What? What’s the situation right now?
She had said so when her instincts craved situations that could not be achieved and her breathing became increasingly short.
Anastasia, who had not dared to pull away from the Emperor’s hand, complied calmly, and repeated only shallow breathing, was now too far gone to recognize the true meaning of the words.
Her head was foggy as if she had inhaled smoke, and instinct prevailed over reason.
As the sensation that started in her stomach spread to her whole body and tormented her, the words she heard from him felt like the touch of the devil. Anastasia asked, barely opening her mouth before she could think of anything else.
“How?”
He leaned close to Anastasia as if he had been waiting for the question. Still holding her cheek, Anastasia thought he would give an answer.
But he crossed the line.
It was too close to come in on the pretext of an answer, so Anastasia came to her senses for a moment as he approached her like a beast that had preyed on her.
Wait, this was too…
“Majest…”
The moment she opened her lips to stop him, Wilhelm did not miss the gap and attacked Anastasia’s lips.
She could have refused, but she could not. No, she didn’t want to. Instinct wanted him.
At first everything was smooth and polite. But it was only for a brief moment.
After clasping their lips a few times, he lifted up one of his remaining hands and grabbed Anastasia’s head.
At first glance it looked like a soft support, but to Anastasia it felt like a kind of pressure.
As if there were no other options left, Anastasia clashed their lips in a closer movement.
If she tried to fall back for a moment, he came back as if he wouldn’t let her go, and even if she tried to run away, the hand that wrapped around her head wouldn’t allow it to happen.
As this condition continued, Anastasia’s reason was swallowed up along with her lips. It was the expected result from the moment she first felt her body was strange.
Anastasia staggered as she felt her legs gradually loosen.
She felt like she had been struck by lightning, and felt like a bomb exploded, and she couldn’t come to her senses.
It was when Anastasia collapsed in that feeling and stumbled a few times before falling into place.
“Ah…”
His hand, which had been wrapped around her head, slid down the back of her neck and wrapped around Anastasia’s waist tightly.
Anastasia’s strength was completely relaxed and she leaned on him as if leaning against a wall.
If he let her go, it was as if she would collapse completely now. Either mentally or physically.
In such a state, it was only natural that Anastasia would not dare to push him away.
At that moment, his right hand, which was holding Anastasia’s face, naturally fell down.
“Ah…”
His long, slender fingers brushed her white neck, a reflex sound of pain escaped Anastasia’s mouth.
He paused for a moment at the sound, then gently grabbed Anastasia’s neck and caressed it. The sound was louder and more frequent.
“Ha…”
At some point, a sigh, as if something had been suppressed, burst out of her mouth.
From that sound, the violent kiss gradually softened, and at some point, it naturally stopped.
Anastasia stared at Wilhelm, gasping for her breath with wide open eyes.
He was also looking at Anastasia with an unknown gaze.
Standing with bloodshot eyes, his eyes seemed to be much redder than her own.
A flame that was much darker, hotter, and bigger than what she had seen in his abyss earlier, stared at her blatantly, as if he had no intention of hiding its presence.
“This… … Is this a solution?”
Anastasia, who belatedly came to her senses, asked with a puzzled face. Wilhelm nodded after a moment of silence.
Anastasia asked, even more absurdly.
“Who said that?”
He smiled back.
“I did.”